Observing these traces can inform new metrics of scholarly influence and impact -- so-called "altmetrics." Stakeholders in academia are beginning to discuss how and where altmetrics can be useful towards evaluating a ...

As scholars migrate into online spaces like Mendeley, blogs, Twitter, and more, they leave new traces of once-invisible interactions like reading, saving, discussing, and recommending. Observing these traces can inform new metrics of scholarly influence and impact — so-called “altmetrics.” Stakeholders in academia are beginning to discuss how and where altmetrics can be useful towards evaluating a researcher’s academic contribution. As this interest grows, libraries are in a unique position to help support an informed dialog on campus. We suggest that librarians can provide this support in three main ways: informing emerging conversations with the latest research, supporting experimentation with emerging altmetrics tools, and engaging in early altmetrics education and outreach. We include examples and lists of resources to help librarians fill these roles.

Librarianship today is about greeting each customer (in person or online) and making sure that his or her library visit is one of the best experiences of the day. Most importantly, it’s about listening to our users’ needs and connecting them with the information, resources, and services that can help them get on with their lives.

Newly launched, Zenodo www.zenodo.org offers a one-stop-store for research output. Created by OpenAIRE and CERN, and supported by the European Commission, this new-generation online repository offers its service from the OpenAIRE pan-European initiative, which expands the linking of research output to datasets and funding information, in European and national contexts.

What is research about if not finding, absorbing, creating and disseminating information?

The informed researcher booklet and Information literacy lens on the Vitae Researcher Development Framework using the SCONUL Seven Pillars of Information Literacy.

In collaboration with the Research Information Network (RIN) and the Society of College, National and University Libraries (SCONUL), Vitae is pleased to announce the publication of The informed researcher booklet and an Information literacy lens on the Vitae Researcher Development Framework.

Following on from the lists of academic tweeters published earlier this month, we have put together a short guide to using Twitter in university research, teaching, and impact activities, available to download as a PDF or view on Issuu.

Previous work indicates that over the past 20 years, the highest quality work have been published in an increasingly diverse and larger group of journals. In this paper we examine whether this diversification has also affected the handful of elite journals that are traditionally considered to be the best. We examine citation patterns over the past 40 years of 7 long-standing traditionally elite journals and 6 journals that have been increasing in importance over the past 20 years. To be among the top 5% or 1% cited papers, papers now need about twice as many citations as they did 40 years ago. Since the late 1980s and early 1990s elite journals have been publishing a decreasing proportion of these top cited papers. This also applies to the two journals that are typically considered as the top venues and often used as bibliometric indicators of "excellence", Science and Nature. On the other hand, several new and established journals are publishing an increasing proportion of most cited papers. These changes bring new challenges and opportunities for all parties. Journals can enact policies to increase or maintain their relative position in the journal hierarchy. Researchers now have the option to publish in more diverse venues knowing that their work can still reach the same audiences. Finally, evaluators and administrators need to know that although there will always be a certain prestige associated with publishing in "elite" journals, journal hierarchies are in constant flux so inclusion of journals into this group is not permanent.

The authors: "With all these new journals, elite and otherwise, researchers now have increasingly more venues where they can submit their papers, and benefit from a visibility and availability that formerly was possible only for the most widely distributed journals, the “elite” journals. Given the high rejection rates of elite journals, around 93% for Science, for example, researchers might prefer to save time and submit their papers to other journals that ultimately will reach the same audience faster and potentially obtain as many citations. In the digital age it is relatively easy to determine the actual citation rate of individual papers or authors, so the value of a journal’s reputation is now less important. Nevertheless, researchers might still prefer to publish in elite journals. Whether justifiable or not, journal reputation still has some value to the papers therein, through a Mathew effect (Larivière and Gingras 2010), particularly when the research is viewed and evaluated by non-experts."

This is a qualitative study about the information competencies that employers seek in university graduates and the skills which graduates demonstrate when they enter the workplace. Included are findings from interviews with 23 US employers and focus groups with a total of 33 recent graduates from four US colleges and universities. Employers said they recruited graduates for their online searching skills but once graduates joined the workplace they rarely used the traditional, low-tech research competencies that their employers also needed. Graduates said that they used skills from university for evaluating and managing published content; yet most graduates still needed to develop adaptive strategies to save time and work more efficiently. A preliminary model compares information problems in the university with those of the workplace. Opportunities are identified for preparing students to succeed beyond the academy in the workplaces of today and tomorrow.

A scholarly publisher has issued a warning to Jeffrey Beall, a Colorado librarian who writes about what he calls "predatory" practices in the journal industry, threatening him with a $1 billion lawsuit for his blog posts about the company.

Steven Bell and John Shank, co-founders of the Blended Librarians Online Learning Community and their guests, Elliott Shore (Executive Director of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL)) and Christa Williford (Program Officer, Council on Library and Information Resources), invite you to attend the next Blended Librarians webcast. This session explores the emerging ecology of positions and roles in Higher Education and examines the roles libraries and allied departments might play in relation to the emerging Alt-Academic movement.

Sharing your scoops to your social media accounts is a must to distribute your curated content. Not only will it drive traffic and leads through your content, but it will help show your expertise with your followers.

Integrating your curated content to your website or blog will allow you to increase your website visitors’ engagement, boost SEO and acquire new visitors. By redirecting your social media traffic to your website, Scoop.it will also help you generate more qualified traffic and leads from your curation work.

Distributing your curated content through a newsletter is a great way to nurture and engage your email subscribers will developing your traffic and visibility.
Creating engaging newsletters with your curated content is really easy.